Blood Omen 2

Kain, lord of vampires, returns from the grave to bring his latest adventures to the GameCube. Countless nameless civilians flock to make out their wills.

GameCube owners can finally take down their wreathes of garlic and put away those sharpened stakes because Crystal Dynamics? vampire adventure has hit the li?l purple box, and it manages to pack enough power to surpass its faults.

Nosgother Than Thou
Kain, lord of vampires, finds himself revived after having fallen in battle. Stripped of his greatest vampiric powers and charged with the resurrection of the vampire nation, Kain must fight powerful new enemies and seek revenge against the mysterious figure that handed him defeat. Of course, in true Legacy of Kain style, Kain will slaughter countless innocent mortals along the way, but hey, that?s all part of being a vampire, right?

While there?s nothing particularly new in Blood Omen 2, the game at the heart of Kain is as strong as ever with just a few small weaknesses. BO2?s graphics lack the smoothness and flash of other GameCube titles, and the comically overwrought voice-acting and great atmospheric music just make up for the repetitive sounds of combat. Kain?s bloodletting gameplay is ghoulishly fun, but almost every fight is exactly alike, and even drawing blood from innocents gets old. BO2 also suffers gravely from hyper-linear levels and unimaginative crate/switch/lift puzzles that do little other than delay the coming of the cool stuff.

The biggest tragedy in Blood Omen 2 is the way the controls feel shoehorned into the GameCube controller. The poor button layout coupled with the quirks innate in the ?Cube?s controller cause some frustrating moments, especially in combat. A control configuration option would have been nice. Still, practice makes perfect, and you?ll be fighting the evil fight in no time.

Adventures in Bloodletting
Blood Omen 2 may be repetitive, overwrought, and fraught with unimaginative puzzles and enemies, but those of you dying for some bloody GameCube fun won?t get it much better than this.

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